Friday, June 25, 2010

Kinslayer Prestige Class

Kinslayer

Once you've tasted the blood of a kin- it compels you to do more. Some are moral crusaders while others are nothing shy of serial killers. Whatever their reason- the crime of “kinslaying”, or killing one of your one blood is a crime most heinous. In some lands it is simply punishable by death but in others, where the offense carries a social taboo, death is to good for you. Torture and solitary confinement are a Kinslayer's only companions and in time even they fade into the dull gray background of prison life. Hatred grows and old malices festers in incarceration until freedom is either taken by force or opportunity.

Alignment: Though the path to becoming a Kinslayer is varied as there are reasons for murder all grow a deep-seated hate for those who simply act as agents of the Law. Incarceration pits “them” against “us”, “guards” against “prisoners”. This hatred generally compels one towards an evil alignment, but some are able to resist. Man's will alone is not strong enough to stop the change- but some cling to religion or philosophy to stay strong. Nothing is strong enough to resist the dislike of the law however and all Kinslayers are considered to be of Chaotic alignment.

Hit Dice: d8

Requirements:

To qualify to become a Kinslayer, a character must fulfill all the following criteria.

Alignment: Chaotic

Skills: Escape Artist 5 Ranks, Survival 5 Ranks

Special: The character must have been detained for a period of time no less than one year for the crime of Kinslaying.

Weapon and Armor Proficiency: Kinslayers are proficient with all simple weapons, plus the hand crossbow, rapier, sap, shortbow, and short sword. They are proficient with light armor, but not with shields.

Favored Enemy (Kin) (Ex): At 1st level, a Kinslayer becomes adept at tracking his own kind. He gains a +2 bonus on Bluff, Knowledge, Perception, Sense Motive, and Survival checks against creatures of his same type and subtype. Likewise, he gets a +2 bonus on weapon attack and damage rolls against them. A Kinslayer may make Knowledge skill checks untrained when attempting to identify these creatures. At 1st level and every four levels thereafter (5th and 9th) the bonus against creatures of his same type and subtype increases by +2.

Kinslayer: A Kinslayer knows where to hit to make it hurt. Having felled many of his own kind, a Kinslayer has become adept at the art of murder. Anytime he is dealing damage to his own kind (same type and subtype) he gains an extra 1d6 damage at 2nd level, and increases by 1d6 every two Kinslayer levels thereafter. Should the Kinslayer score a critical hit with a Kinslaying attack, this extra damage is not multiplied. Ranged attacks can count as Kinslaying attacks only if the target is within 30 feet. With a weapon that deals nonlethal damage (like a sap, whip, or an unarmed strike), a Kinslayer can not apply this extra damage. He cannot use a weapon that deals lethal damage to deal nonlethal damage in a Kinslaying attack, not even with the usual –4 penalty. The Kinslayer must be able to see the target well enough to pick their favorite target area and must be able to reach such a spot. A Kinslayer cannot apply this extra damage while striking a creature with concealment.

Shank (Ex): Incarceration has taught you a valuable lesson when it comes to survival. The man with the weapon wins. If you are without a weapon you may take 1 hour to fashion yourself a “Shank” which counts as a Dagger or a Sap but are treated as improvised weapons. You may only fashion a shank once per day for every Kinslayer level you posses. Additionally you may ignore all penalties associated with fighting with improvised weapons.

Track (Kin) (Ex): A Kinslayer adds half his level (minimum 1) to Survival skill checks made to follow or identify tracks if they are of his own kin.

Smite Lawful (Su): Once per day, a Kinslayer can summon up his great hatred for all things lawful to aid him in his struggle against the oppressors. As a swift action, the Kinslayer chooses one target within sight to smite. If this target is lawful, the Kinslayer adds his Charisma bonus (if any) to his attack rolls and adds his Kinslayer level to all damage rolls made against the target of his smite. If the target of smite lawful is an outsider with the lawful subtype, or a lawful-aligned dragon the bonus to damage increases to 2 points of damage per level the Kinslayer possesses. Regardless of the target, smite lawful attacks automatically bypass any DR the creature might possess. In addition, while smite lawful is in effect, the Kinslayer gains a deflection bonus equal to his Charisma modifier (if any) to his AC against attacks made by the target of the smite. If the Kinslayer targets a creature that is of chaotic or neutral alignment, the smite is wasted with no effect. The smite lawful effect remains until the target of the smite is dead or the next time the Kinslayer rests and regains his uses of this ability. At 5th level, and at every three levels thereafter, the Kinslayer may smite lawful one additional time per day to a maximum of three times per day at 10th level.

2 comments:

I decided to roll two related concepts that have been bumping around in my head for a while into one and get a polished design doc up on my blog.

I did a bit of Law Enforcement for a semester at a community college before I came to UAT and the way convicts where described to me almost sounded like a character class. (Good at improvised weapons, escape artist, ect) I also wanted to do a "Kinslayer" class where a character was good at killing their own kind. (Blade anyone?)

It's meant to be a companion class to Rogue (well one that got caught anyway...) or perhaps a Fighter. I'm not 100% that I LOVE the class feature distribution per level but it's all in once piece.

Felgoroth:I like the idea all in all but the Kinslaying ability seems like it might be slightly more powerful than it should be, I mean yes, it can only be made against certain creatures but you also add the +2 from favored enemy and if they're lawful you add even more, not really sure how you could tone it down but then again I don't know if it needs to be. I also think that you could change the alignment to any but Lawful Good or any non-lawful but I understand why you went with any Chaotic. It kind of reminds me of the Half-Elf prestige class called the Scar Enforcer which I'm pretty sure was from Races of Destiny. Which brings up a good question, if you play a Half race (Half-Elf, Half-Orc, etc) is your favored enemy Humans, Elves, or Half-whatevers? Just a thought.

Scott:The damage is high, though like you said- it would be a very specific enemy choice. The kinslayer continues the progression from sneak attack btw.

Damage at 20th levels (for a 10 rogue/10 Kinslayer) would be something like this:5d6 sneak attack, 5d6 kinslayer damage, +6 from favored enemy, +charisma mod, +8(avg of about 44 + cha mod + str mod. So like 46-54 avrg at 20th level)Now that seems a little high right?That would ONLY work if the enemy was a lawful creature with the same type and subtype as you and you could sneak attack them effectively.(10d6 from rogue's sneak attack at the same level)

I believe a half elf (or other half race) would have to either pick "half elf" (purge the non-pure bloods? Self-hating???) or one or the other.